Can Lewis Hamilton bounce back at 2018 Azerbaijan GP

Last race weekend at China, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo become a surprise winner – After three rounds of 2018 F1 world championship Mercedes lead the constructors’ championship – just a single point ahead of Ferrari, having gone win-less in the first three races as Ferrari and Red Bull joint the spoils instead.

The F1 fighters currently moves onto Baku this weekend for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. The lengthy Baku straight and fastest tyre choice could favor Ferrari. Here are bodog sports betting brave predictions for Formula One in 2018.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel having won the first two races of this season, Hamilton will be stronger than ever to put the German in the shade this time out.

Pre-season performance was highlighted another Hamilton domination, but the Brit will reach in Baku bidding for his first victory of the new campaign.

This season Azerbaijan Grand Prix has been shifted – advancing from June to April, but, despite the change in schedule, race organizers will greatly be hoping for a repeat of last year’s wheel-to-wheel battle.

The most dramatic on-track moments happened at Baku in last season, when Vettel appear to deliberately drive into Hamilton. Following series of other crashes gifted a victory to Ricciardo – the most unlikely of wins. Baku expecting another tight battle with Mercedes and Ferrari.

Speaking following the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton says he’s been closely working with Mercedes at its factory to give his comment on where he feels the team needs to improve and is confident of a revenge in Baku at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

“I will be at the factory with the team again on Thursday,” Hamilton said after the race in China. “We are going to continue to analyse and improve. I think there was an improvement already this weekend and it will continue to improve.”

Hamilton currently second in the F1 world drivers’ championship after cutting Vettel’s lead down to nine points at the Chinese Grand Prix.

The soft, super-soft and ultrasoft are the threesome of choice for Baku, more and more softer than last year when taking into account all mixtures are a step softer than 2017.

“The Azerbaijan Grand Prix should have quite a different look to it this time, being held two months earlier and presumably presenting a contrast to last year in terms of weather conditions, when track temperatures peaked at more than 50C,” said Pirelli Head of Racing Mario Isola.

“Last year, we felt that we were a little too conservative with the tyre nomination in Azerbaijan, in the first year of the new tyre regulations, as the medium wasn’t really used.

“So we felt that this year we had scope to be a little more aggressive with the nominations. This should lead to all three compounds being used as realistic race options, and some inventive race strategies, as we saw at the last two Grands Prix in Bahrain and China.”

Mercedes made only one victory in last six races, their rivals have clearly closed the gap. Mercedes has conduct its usual outstanding attention on the forthcoming races and prepared its troops for every possible setup that may emerge in Baku. Still, doubt overcomes, says Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.

“We’re going into the race weekend in Baku feeling excited about that unpredictability,” Wolff adds.

“It will be the first time the Azerbaijan Grand Prix takes place in April, with completely different conditions to the previous years when we went to the Caspian Sea in June.

“This is a demanding circuit where the drivers need confidence in the car to find the right rhythm – and you want to hit the ground running on Friday morning. Last year’s race threw up a podium that nobody could have predicted and, as is the way with street courses, we can once again expect the unexpected.”